Hikari no Shinobi
by Kurogane7
Summary: After Naruto gets hit by the Gogyo Fūin by Orochimaru, he gets a surge of memories, and knowledge of a new kekkei genkai. What is this new power he has gained? What can he do with it? Smarter, Kekkei Genkai Naruto/Harem (reasonable size, Hinata, Tenten, and Anko at the core), Attempt at Tsundere, and Gender-Benders. Rated T for now.
1. Surge of Memories

_**A/N: I've had this idea for a while now, and it was inspired by sci-fi games such as Mass Effect and Halo. Hopefully, someone gets the idea of what I'm trying to convey as Naruto's bloodline. I'll establish limits and powers, probably later...but that all depends on how many reviews I get for this story. As usual, your reviews will determine if this story is worth pursuing, so do read and review would you kindly?**_

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{Play: "Twisted Streets" by Darren Korb from "Bastion"}

[Unknown location...]

As soon as he woke up, he didn't know what was going on. That Hebi-teme's last attack seemed to have rattled his brains a bit, and now he was in the middle of some kind of dream. Where the hell was he? The entire place looked like he was in a sewer of some kind. How the hell did he go from the tower in the Shi no Mori to this place? Was he dead or something?

However, all thoughts were thrown out the window the second that he heard something behind him. What the hell was going on? The sound got louder and louder, as it got faster. It sounded like...water. And then, as soon as Naruto realized what was happening, it was too late! The flood had hit him hard and fast, smashing him against the wall behind him.

Something felt odd now. He knew there was water in his whole body, so why wasn't he drowning? And then Naruto felt it! A single jolt to his head had caused pain, and for some reason he began to feel like he knew more than he did; he actually felt a lot smarter. He also began see visions. No, it wouldn't be accurate to call what he was seeing visions; they were more like...memories.

* * *

For his first trip down memory lane, he was brought back to the time he'd spent in the orphanage; he remembered being really smart for his age, as well as laughing the days away with a cute girl that had buns in her hair. He remembered that as they grew up, she would cuddle him in the bed they shared together, and that the matron for the first few years of his life was a woman as pretty on the outside as she was inside that really loved children and smelled like soap. He also remembered the excitement he felt the days that she would gather the orphans together, reading stories to them about Momotaro, the Brave One-Inch samurai, even the one about the Aka-oni and Ao-oni. The one he liked the most however seemed to be the one about Benkei and his duel with Ushiwakamaru on Gojoe bridge.

Unfortunately, that matron died at the young age of 32, and the replacement that came in was not exactly pleasant. She would throw him in a closet without saying why, often giving him rotten food and calling him 'demon', and blaming him for causing all the orphans to lose their parents. Being a kid at the time, he did not understand why everyone kept calling him demon when they thought he wasn't listening. Thanks to Mizuki (assuming he didn't survive the beat-down that Naruto lay on him, may his soul forever burn in hell), Naruto now knew why.

However, what the bad matron didn't seem to know was that this also had the effect of drawing him closer to the bun-haired girl he now remembered was Tenten. Where was she? The growing relationship between Tenten and Naruto had gotten so good that it was able to get rid of all the pain he felt...he was actually happiest whenever he would get close to Tenten and the two of them would cuddle, as she stroked his hair and told him that things would get better later on. It never did get better, but that didn't matter so long as he was able to stay with Tenten.

Somehow, the bad matron found out about Naruto's relationship with Tenten, and things seemed to get even worse from there. One day, Naruto felt a cloth cover his mouth that put him to sleep...and next thing he knew, he awoke in a closet, watching as Tenten was being adopted by a funny-looking guy in a wide-sleeved jacket that wore a pair of large glasses with spirals on the lenses. She seemed to be looking around for something before she left, but no matter how hard he struggled, she did not seem to hear him. She was led away by the weird guy, with a sad look on her face. After she was long gone, Naruto knew that it was hopeless to keep struggling. His best friend of six years was now no longer with him, and the matron had a ball with taunting him.

The day he turned seven, he was dragged out of bed at the dead of midnight, thrown out headfirst into the street, and locked outside the orphanage. That was sort of a good thing, as he never liked the matron anyway, but he still needed to be safe. And so, he used what he learned the hard way from the orphanage to survive out in the streets: whenever night was coming up, he would find a box, and newspapers, and use them to make an improvised sleeping bag and blanket; he would make regular trips to the river to clean himself up every day and get a drink of water before sneaking into the farmer's market, and swiping food from under the vendors' noses (he really liked those apples, and especially relished in the victory of successfully robbing them); he never stayed in one place, because while the glares were bad, he knew that only a few people were likely to go beyond the glaring to do what the matron had been doing to him, and he was not going to take that chance even if the people looked nice; once in a while he even snuck into the Akimichi clan restaurant looking for unbitten scraps that had not gotten into the trash cans yet, moving in, taking what he needed, and then getting the fuck out before anyone saw him.

In those days, Naruto had been hearing the word 'street rat' being uttered. While he wasn't sure who they were talking about, that didn't stop him; he may not have liked stealing, but he needed to survive, morals be damned.

* * *

He then remembered the day that his life started changing for the better; it'd been almost four, maybe six months since he'd been booted out of the orphanage, and Naruto was getting hungry. He only had a few apples left from his recent burglary, and he'd established his temporary sleeping quarters far away from the Akimichi restaurant...but he was fairly close to the Inuzuka compound. He'd heard that dog food was okay to eat, and so he rationed his apples for a bit, taking a look from a distance, watching as the women in the compound walked around to feed the dogs in the kennels, trying to figure out where they stored the food, as well as a good time to strike. Unfortunately, he was on his last apple at the time, and so he had to strike immediately!

Naruto waited until nightfall to make his move. He climbed over the chain link fence as quickly and quietly as he could, and then landing just as quietly-this was too easy. He knew that the food was stored in a particular shed, and so he ran and cursed his luck! They padlocked the damn thing! But he'd come way too far to leave the compound empty-handed!

He looked around, and found a planter...and it was being held back with large rocks. Naruto picked up the largest rock he could find, and started banging desperately at the lock, when the unthinkable happened: a large pool of light had turned on from behind him. He'd been caught! The older Inuzuka woman he'd seen walking around seemed to have a shocked look on her face.

Wasting no time, Naruto darted off and tried to escape, ignoring the woman's cries for him to wait. He was halfway up the fence when he felt arms wrapping around him and then pulling him down quickly. As he was being restrained by the Inuzuka woman, Naruto struggled hard to get free, ignoring her pleas for him to stay and that he was safe...when it was clear that resistance was futile, he relaxed while she stroked his hair lovingly, lowering the fear he had that she was one of the people that'd tried to kill him.

The next few days, he stayed with the Inuzuka clan telling the matriarch of what he'd been through. Then one day, he'd heard from the Hokage that he'd done a lot of things recently: the matron and the people that tried to kill him several times while he was on the move were thrown in jail, all of whom were fined for every cent they had to their names and the proceeds going towards compensating Naruto for what he had to go through. After that, Naruto was given an apartment, a monthly stipend, a lot of free coupons to the Ichiraku Ramen, as well as a very sincere apology from the Hokage for being too busy to see him, and not doing more for him.

Overall, it wasn't much better, but it was a start; because as soon as he got his apartment, a lot of the stores overcharged him for low-quality goods, and a good number of restaurants would boot him out (he remembered the satisfaction he had when he got revenge on those bastards). That was undoubtedly bad, and he really hated those people even then; but he'd found other people who were actually nice to him, a miracle given that his apartment was smack-dab between the red-light district and a good shinobi community.

He remembered having a purple-haired neighbor move in to the apartment next door. She used to say mean things to him, but be nice to him anyway, telling him not to tell anyone she was ever nice to him...Naruto supposed she was too lonely to be completely mean, and he could relate to that; which was why they visited each other very frequently to comfort each other. Come to think of it, the minute she actually warmed up to him, he found that she was a very funny person who usually came with him to his pranks...a very pretty girl too. It was a fun time, and Hebi-neechan was the name he had for her, because she could summon snakes the way Kakashi-sensei could.

He also remembered having other shinobi come to visit him from time to time; Hokage-jiji's son Asuma, that funny-looking Maito Gai, a healthier Gekkō Hayate and his girlfriend at the time Uzuki Yugao, and several others. Even though he knew that they were only there because Hokage-jiji wanted someone to check up on him, it was never a dull moment.

* * *

Then came the day that everything changed...where his memory had ended.

It was at night, and Naruto decided to go for a stroll to clear his head after being taught about chakra by Inu, the ANBU agent assigned to guard him that day. This was because he was going to the academy in a few months. He then noted something was wrong when he saw some masked man running around with a large sack slung over his shoulder. Was he a pervert or something? The second he saw the contents of the sack moving around as if trying to get free, he immediately put two-and-two together! It was a kidnapping!

Naruto decided to charge in to grab the guy by his ankles, tripping him.

The man took great care to catch the package as it arced over his shoulder. After ensuring that his package was safe, the man soon turned to Naruto with a kunai in his hand-it was clear as day that he wasn't going to leave any witnesses, and so he jumped onto Naruto, trying to make sure that his target didn't escape, with his kunai ready to stab. Naruto raised his hands and turned his head away...this was it! This was the day he would die!

However, something strange happened, and he knew something was wrong when his vision was filled with an orange-ish light. He then hazarded a glance upward, and saw to his surprise that his assailant was laying on top of what appeared to be a thick, rectangular pane of transparent glass that was glowing the same orange light he was seeing. Apparently, the assassin shook off his shock long enough to stand up and hop upwards, and stomp on the panel three times hoping to bring his full weight down on Naruto and crush him with the glass. Naruto rolled away on the third try, causing the kidnapper to stomp down on nothing as the glass panel dissipated before he threw a kunai at Naruto, causing a small square of the orange-lit glass to reflexively materialize against his will, and deflect the kunai into a wall before de-materializing.

The kidnapper was shocked that this happened, and threw many kunai and shuriken at an equally-shocked Naruto, only for the same result to happen; every time something flew in Naruto's direction, every time it came close to him, that orange glass would materialize and deflect the kunai away from him before de-materializing almost instantly. Seeing that he had no other option, the attacker drew his last kunai, and attempted to stab Naruto to death once again. The attacker had gotten close enough, and mustered up as much strength as he could the second he saw the glass panel forming up once again at the last minute...and to his surprise, he finally shattered it! And his trajectory was getting dangerously close to a prone Naruto who simply swung his arm to shield himself from what was probably going to be his last view of anything as soon as he felt a mass land on him.

When he didn't feel the pricking of anything stabbing at him, Naruto opened his eyes...why did he feel wet? He then realized that the kidnapper was not moving. What the hell was going on? With a lot of effort, he pushed the body off of him, and saw that the kidnapper was dead; he looked like he was cut halfway into thirds on the torso, with the cut closest to his neck going all the way to where his heart would be.

He took a moment to throw up, and take in deep breaths, as Uzumaki Naruto had just made his first kill at a rather young age. Shaking off the shock of actually having killed someone, he reminded himself that there was a kidnap victim that needed to be rescued, and that he would have time to keep feeling sick later.

He went over to the bag, and opened it, finding that its contents was a scared little girl with pearlescent white eyes no older than he was. A Hyūga? Naruto gently coaxed her out of the bag, and tried his best to comfort her, telling her that it was okay, that she was safe now. The girl then hugged him tightly, as if she were afraid he'd disappear on her. As soon as he was able to pry her off of him, Naruto was about to take charge of the situation when the Hyūga girl gasped a word of warning too late: he felt a heavy blow to his head; which then caused him to fall to the floor at a really high speed; and then, blackness…

* * *

When Naruto woke up, he saw a white ceiling, and began to wonder where he was. What happened to him? Why did his head hurt? He then saw an old man in white robes sitting next to his bed, looking expectantly at him.

What came out of his mouth at that moment was very simple, but it had a very big effect: "Who are you?"

Those were three words were simple, but the sincerity behind them had caused the old man to have a heartbroken look on his face. He'd lost his memory from whatever happened to him.

* * *

As soon as he had finished his trip through his regained memories, Naruto was returned to where he was last; in the sewer, supposedly drowning.

He knew that since his last visit with Hokage-jiji, he took the next few months recovering...and when it was time to go to the Ninja Academy, Naruto had found it harder to study; he was distracted easily, showed no interest in his assignments, his memory so-so, and he had a hard time concentrating...as though someone put something in his brain that made it so that he would be dumbed down. It appeared that that problem was solved as soon as Hebi-teme did that jutsu that screwed with his chakra control. Once that was done, all the lessons started coming back to him with the memories he'd had up to this point...if this block in his head were removed from his head sooner, he would've been almost as smart as Shikamaru, and he would've tied with that stuck-up girl Setsuna, and shown up that know-it-all Sakura (who was, in all honesty getting better in terms of her fangirl infection).

However, Naruto was pulled away from his thoughts as soon as he saw a bright light in the distance. It seemed to be creeping closer and closer, and he didn't seem to have the strength to fight or fly. Accepting his fate as it was, he simply waited...he was ready to…

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{Play: "Sakura" by Toshiro Masuda, from "Naruto"}

[Chūnin Exams rest area...shortly after the Training Ground 44 exam...]

When the light cleared up, Naruto woke up with a start. He was panting as he scanned his surroundings, sighing in relief when he realized that he was having a dream. But then again, he'd asked himself, if it were a dream, then why did it feel so real?

Relaxing on his own spot on the floor, Naruto's reverie was broken the second he heard yawning right next to him. He then saw, to his surprise, that Setsuna was waking up...right next to him! One of the hottest girls in class, and she was sleeping right next to him all this time, and now she was rubbing the sleep off her eyes!

"That was a good sleep I just had," she said, still a bit groggy before mustering the strength she had at the moment to glare at Naruto menacingly. The words that came out of her mouth afterward were deadpanned: "If you tell anyone I slept with you, I'm going to kill you, dobe."

"Well don't hold your breath, Ice Queen."

In response, Setsuna let out a proud 'hmph!' and got up to leave, with her fanatical servant-girl hovering next to her. The next part of the Chūnin exams was about to begin, and he was not about to miss it for the world!

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_**A/N: And that's a wrap! Hopefully, I'll get enough reviews to continue on with this tale. Also, I will be taking submissions for beta-readers for this story, so please tell me if you're interested. I'll consider submitting more chapters to this story if I get at least 5 reviews. All that said and done, do read and review, would you kindly? Before I have to break into Dr. Suchong's lab, and find that plasmid.**_

_**Oh yeah, and another thing, before I forget: I'm going to take harem suggestions, but I'm going to try to keep the number reasonable. So far, Hinata, Tenten, and Anko (who are all my core harem choices) are in, so suggestions and why you want them in the harem would be lovely.**_


	2. Revival

_**A/N: 28 reviews on the first chapter, this is actually a promising start. And speaking of promises, I will throw in a second chapter since some people love this story, how do you like that? Oops, too late, already did. In any case, I noticed that I made a big no-no last chapter and fixed it…not that it mattered, as it should've been more than obvious as to the identity of the Hyūga girl is; and whether she loses her adorable stutter or not, well, read on. In any case, do read and review would you kindly?**_

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[Central Tower of Shi no Mori-Chūnin Exam, Third Stage...]

"Welcome all students to the next stage of the Chūnin Exams," announced the Hokage, addressing the multitude of genin that had been battered and bruised in the previous exam, "as I'm sure you all know, these exams were held as a means of upholding peace between our respective nations by bringing us all together...however, there is another reason why we hold the exams; and that is to use it as a substitute for war."

"Say that again?" asked a blonde Genin from Sunagakure no Sato with her hair bundled up in four ponytails, "If we're using this as a substitute for a war, then why are we doing this in the first place?"

If he'd been annoyed by the interruption, he didn't show it, but the Hokage masked whatever irritation he felt by answering her question patiently. "That is a good question, young lady, but the answer is very simple; these exams were to test your qualities for potential clients in the future...because in one month after this stage of the exams are completed, the daimyo and kages from all corners of the Elemental Nations will be coming here to watch the finals. They alone will judge which among you is worthy of a promotion, and which of you is not; because win or lose, everyone here has an equal chance of of becoming a chūnin-it's just that your performance thus far will make or break your chances. And while I frown upon such a practice, you are all allowed to kill each other during the matches. All that aside, I wish you all good luck for the incoming matches."

Once he had said his piece, Hiruzen performed a Kawarimi no Jutsu, and in his place was a sickly-looking jōnin with a bandana on his head, and a flak jacket over his torso. "The name's Gekkō Hayate, *cough* I'll be the proctor for this part of the exams." At this point, he then regarded the machine on the wall behind him. "Right up there on the wall is a randomizer, as soon as it *cough-cough* as soon as it turns on, it will *hack* start running through your names. As soon as it *cough-cough-hack* stops on your name, you are to come on down here for your match. Now before we get this show on the road, is there anyone who wants to forfeit the match?"

Within the crowd, only one person had raised their hand. "I'd like to forfeit, proctor," said the bespectacled form of Yakushi Kabuto, "I feel that I've used up too much chakra in the last exam."

"Then you can leave," replied Hayate, questioningly raising an eyebrow, "

Naruto watched suspiciously from his position as Kabuto left the tower. Something was off about the boy's request, but he thought nothing of it...this was of no concern right now. as the machine began to cycle through the names, the LED's flashing as the computer inside was randomizing the possibilities, and choosing who would be an appropriate matchup. He waited with anticipation, watching as names flashed on by at high speeds before the machine began to slow down...and two names appeared: Uchiha Setsuna, and Akado Yoroi.

"The first match shall be Uchiha Setsuna and Akado Yoroi, *cough* would everyone else wait up in the stands?"

Once that was said and done, everyone went up to the stands except for both Setsuna and Yoroi, both of whom stared each other down. As he looked on down from his perch, turned his attention to Sakura for a brief moment, wondering why he fell for the pink-haired harpy in the first place before turning his attention back to Setsuna. Ice Queen or no, the girl was part of his team, and as such would need his support.

"Ryo for your thoughts, Naruto?" asked Kakashi, startling Naruto, who was being uncharacteristically quiet for a bit.

"Nothing much, Kakashi-sensei, I'm just watching the match for a bit."

Hearing that, Kakashi could not help but raise his eyebrow in confusion.

The second that the proctor had dropped his hand down for a very resounding 'Hajime!', the battle had gone up and down...from Setsuna being forced to resort to fighting without her Sharingan to help her. Naruto had a feeling it had something to do with that bastard Orochimaru, and that 'Curse Mark" he put on her. It also didn't help her case that her opponent was also capable of draining chakra. He then noted that Anko was watching the fight very intently…Naruto wondered exactly why she would do that until he remembered something: she had the exact same mark on her neck as Setsuna. It was from there that a number of scenarios had formed in his mind as to why she was studying the last Uchiha very carefully.

However, he put all thoughts aside simply to see how Setsuna would get herself out of this situation. Impressively, the girl powered through the Curse Mark and managed to get in a kick that sent Akado Yoroi into the sky…but she didn't stop there! She followed Yoroi into the air, and landed a blocked weak kick to his front, and used the momentum of the kick to land a second, heavier kick to Yoroi's back, and finished him off by smashing him savagely to the ground with her heaviest axe-kick, before naming the attack: "Shishi Rendan!"

To Naruto, that was impressive, and yet not-so-impressive at the same time. Impressive, because Setsuna was able to fight without using her Sharingan, and was more than capable of taking care of herself, but it was not so impressive at the same time because she'd obviously copied the attack from Rock Lee…a shinobi he'd given a lot of credit to for lasting for so long on his hard work alone. He soon watched as Kakashi led Setsuna away, presumably to seal away the 'Curse Mark'-whether the jōnin was aware that he was giving the girl special treatment or not, Naruto didn't know and didn't care.

"And now *cough* for the next match of the day," croaked the proctor, turning Naruto's attention to the screen. He watched as the names were randomized in the computer once again; tensing as he waited for the results…the first of which being his own name.

The second name that appeared on the screen was one that he'd remembered more thoroughly. Even though Naruto had a lot of fun days with her whenever she came to his apartment prior to the disappearance of his memories, he knew that Inuzuka Kira was a very capable kunoichi. He also assumed that the stronger competitive streak she'd had with him was due to the fact that he'd forgotten her name when he first saw her again in the Ninja Academy. Either way, as Naruto went down the stairs, he hazarded a glance at the young Inuzuka heiress…she was developing quite well for a kunoichi of her age, to the point that her puppy Akamaru was sitting more comfortably in her hoodie. The dead giveaway to her heritage came in the form of two red fang-like clan markings on her cheeks…and the cocky grin she had on her face definitely showed she was not a shy person; unlike her older sister Hana, who seemed to be a little more humble. "Looks like we got ourselves an easy win, don't we boy?" she asked her puppy, who seemed to bark in agreement.

"I really wouldn't count on it Kira," said Naruto, practically challenging Kira to begin the fight as he stared her down, "I've gotten stronger since the Academy."

Kira scoffed, the challenge in her tone being more than clear. "I'll see it when I believe it!"

As Hayate moved on in, he raised his hand…carefully watching as the two opponents prepared to fight. Kira had allowed Akamaru to get out of her hoodie, and take up a position right next to her; Naruto on the other hand simply got into a stance in which both hands were raised, clenching and unclenching them rhythmically, every breath he took was to stabilize his breathing and to control the amount of tension he was feeling.

"HAJIME!" called out Hayate, dropping his hand quickly before disappearing in a puff of smoke! The battle had begun!

Naruto had begun the fight by leaping backwards away from a right hook by Kira; he knew Kira and Akamaru were both a taijutsu tag-team that was pretty much unbeatable, and so he took a leap back to consider his options. Then again, this was the perfect opportunity to test out the memory that had come back to him. "What's the matter Naru-baka?" taunted Kira, "I thought you've gotten stronger, so why are you running away?"

"Not really," shot back Naruto, "just thinking for a bit."

"What're you, a lazy-ass Nara-boy? Well it suits me just fine! If you won't come to me, then I'm coming to you!" At that, Kira had gotten down on all fours; all hallmark of the Inuzuka taijutsu style. "Shikyaku no jutsu". Once she was ready to attack, Kira had charged Naruto, crawling on all fours like a beast, and was prepared to attack in tandem with Akamaru…the latter of whom was going to move in and pin Naruto down by the ankle while Kira slugged it out with him.

{Play: "Revival" by Neil Davidge from "Halo 4"}

It was here that Naruto began to remember exactly what had happened that day when he saved that Hyūga girl from being kidnapped. He had to time it just right or else he'd get the beating of the lifetime. He watched as Kira and Akamaru closing in on him, Naruto simply waited…they were getting closer…closer…and just as the two of them pounced on him, he quickly responded! Naruto quickly slipped into a planted stance, charged chakra throughout his whole body, and shot both hands forward in opposition to a now mid-air Kira and Akamaru. What he was doing was lost to everyone until two thick, transparent panels of glass had appeared in front of Naruto's outstretched palms, each of them glowing a warm orange light!

It was too late for both Kira and Akamaru to avoid this attack! They both crashed into the solid panes of light, but the way that they did so was in such a manner as to minimize the damage caused by the impact. It was as though both had crashed into a brick wall…neither the heiress nor her trusty dog wanted to risk being countered, and so they both hopped backwards to avoid a close-range attack.

"Hah! Well would you look at that, Akamaru! Naruto-kun has been holding back on us!" taunted Kira, "Since when have you been able to do this?"

"This is the first time I've ever used this power in earnest," said Naruto, the panels of glass dissipating, "although I did accidentally use it to save Hinata-chan from getting kidnapped. However, after what happened in the Shi no Mori, I've been able to get all my memories back, including my memories of this ability I have to turn light into a solid."

* * *

[Up in the stands...]

[Hinata...]

"What is going on?" asked Kurenai, watching with no small amount of surprise as her own student and her dog had practically crashed into a pair of rectangular panels made of what appeared to be solidified chakra…or, at the very least, light that'd been solidified by chakra. Shino on the other hand, kept mum on the situation; he wanted to observe the battle more closely, and so he kept his eyes peeled on what he observed to be an interesting match.

As she looked down gobsmacked at the scene below her, Hinata could only feel something bubbling within her at what Naruto had just done to Kira-chan; she couldn't tell what it was that she was feeling, but it brought her back to the time when Naruto had saved her from that kidnapper. Even though she was in a bag at the time, she still had access to the Byakugan...and she watched as Naruto used that same panel of light to stop her kidnapper from killing him. She also saw that when he raised his arms for a second time to defend himself, what appeared to be blades made from the same material as that panel form just below his wrists and cut into the kidnapper, cauterizing his wounds.

To see that Naruto had managed to use this ability now, after all these years had brought this wave of nostalgia to her; that moment of bravery before he was coshed on the head by some shinobi with a mad look in his eyes was what inspired Hinata to better herself. All this time, she'd wanted to show Naruto how much stronger she'd become, ignoring all the hateful glares shot her way by Neji with a great deal of success, and practically becoming more confident. And at the heart of the matter were two things that inspired Hinata's fame and infamy in the clan as a rebel: the first being that she never wanted to be weak again…Naruto paid for that mistake with his health, his mind, and his memory for the next few years, and she'd be damned if he suffered like that again; the second was that she had people she wanted to protect, and she wanted this power to become strong enough to protect said people, her sister and Naruto-kun being among them; and the final reason was so that she could change the clan for the better…the elders had way too much power in their hands, and started to become even more powerful than her father, whom they were supposed to be advising-they would be the very first thing on her list to take care of upon her promotion to being Matriarch of the clan, and she would make them know their place.

As she watched the battle with a fascinated eye, she could only hope that Kira-chan would survive this. She loved the girl like a sister, and didn't want anything bad happening to her…but at the same time, she was worried that since Naruto-kun had rediscovered this power, it'd be hard for him to hold back. She could tell from the subtle twitch in his motion that he was using this match to test out his power.

* * *

[Anko]

Now there was another surprise! She didn't think that it was even possible! First was Uchiha Setsuna overcoming the Curse Mark, and now this! It was like the idiot Naruto had crumbled away, and in his place was the Naruto she remembered; brighter and stronger than before. That's not to say that Anko didn't care for the boy: in fact, she loved him with all her heart, even after he turned into the doofus he'd become post-Hyūga rescue. It's just that she didn't want to put too much on his emptied-out memories…and it hurt when she learned from the old man that someone made him have amnesia, and that he wouldn't remember who she was. She wanted to help him recover; to make him remember everything, and hopefully tell her what happened that night so that she could figure out how to help him, but the Hokage, and Hazama-sensei recommended against it.

Right now, she didn't understand what was going on, but whatever happened in the Shi no Mori caused Naruto to unlock this ability to create these glowing panes of glass to defend himself. '_For once, I have something to thank that bastard of a sensei for,'_ she thought to herself venomously, '_if he didn't do what he did to Naruto-kun, he would still be running around shouting like an idiot that he was going to be Hokage one day!'_

Still, she'd heard about the fate of the 'Kumo Ambassador', and wondered exactly what had happened at the scene of the crime. All there was to go by was Hinata's account; which stated that Naruto had somehow conjured forth a solid panel of light, and used it to defend himself against the attacker; when the attacker threw kunai at him, a smaller panel of light appeared to intercept the knives, and deflected them away; and then he accidentally created a pair of blades of the same material, hovering below his wrists to cut the kidnapper almost into thirds, while cauterizing the wounds just as he was moving his arms up to shield himself.

Given that Hinata was pretty much traumatized by what she'd seen, Anko discounted what the girl had told the interviewers at the debriefing. Now that she'd seen what was right in front of her the whole time, she sort of owed her an apology; especially since she'd been the one to interrogate the girl.

That's not to say that Anko disliked her in any shape or form; far from it, she found her to be adorable. At first, she was biased against Hinata for pretty much watching and doing nothing to stop Naruto-kun from getting that case of amnesia, but then she reminded herself that the poor thing was too young and too scared at the time to have done anything beyond that last-minute warning. She supposed that her encounter with the girl had caused Hinata to grow a spine over the years…right now, she has enemies with a small number of the Main Branch, and a good portion of the Hyūga Elders with her rebellious attitude. Were it not for the fact that she was Neji's rival as a prodigy of the clan through hard work and determination alone, she would've been branded and then killed in front of her own sister.

Now however, she kept her attention to the fight at hand. She wanted to see exactly what he was capable of before seeing him.

* * *

[Tenten]

Maito Gai looked on at the spectacle below him with an appraising eye and a hanging jaw. No words could describe what it was he was seeing.

"Gai-sensei," said Rock Lee, addressing his teacher with curious eyes, "is it possible to use chakra in such a manner?"

"I wouldn't know, Lee," answered Gai, turning to his student, "in fact, I'm pretty sure that Naruto-kun has awakened some kind of kekkei genkai; and a brand-new one at that!"

As he watched the battle, Hyūga Neji didn't look concerned. "It won't matter, the boy is fated to lose; and if he succeeds here, then I'm very certain that that's as far as he'll go."

Tenten turned to shoot a scathing glare at her teammate. She honestly didn't understand what she saw in that fatalistic bastard when she went all fangirl on him. Come to think of it, she'd felt ashamed of herself that she became a fangirl at all…and that was before she saw Naruto-kun again.

The two of them were practically inseparable during their days in the orphanage, and Tenten still remembered that those were the happier days. She also remembered that at one point, the two of them made a pinky-promise that the two of them would be adopted together, one way or another…it was a promise that brought them even closer together. When she was adopted, she tried to find him as best she could, but the mean orphanage matron pretty much rushed her out of the orphanage with her foster father…she knew how mean she was to Naruto-kun, which was why she felt guilty even to this day.

Soon after she'd been adopted, Tenten had tried to visit him in the orphanage; to try and sneak him out of there if she could. While she was destroyed when the matron told her that Naruto-kun hated her, she didn't believe for a second that he would say that he never wanted to see her ever again. Distraught at what the matron had told her, the fact of the matter was that no matter the excuse, she broke her promise and left him behind. And so, in her pain, she let the matter drop…for now.

Months of attempting to contact Naruto were met with failure as the Matron kept kicking her out. Something wasn't right, and Tenten knew it, but she would not stop trying to sneak in and find him. One day, on Naruto's seventh birthday, she'd resolved to sneak into the orphanage, and give him a birthday present and an explanation; she at least owed him that much. And besides, it was practice for her future career as a kunoichi. She went to the room she and Naruto had shared, only to find him gone, and with the Matron smiling maniacally...given her kunoichi training, Tenten was barely able to escape; and when she got home, she could only cry in her pillow: she was too late, and now the mean matron had her way.

It would be a good six years before she found Naruto again, and it wasn't until she found him in the first part of the Chūnin Exams that Tenten found that she'd really missed him, and that she still owed him an explanation and an apology. Unfortunately, he did not say a word to her; no hello, no hugging, not even a look of anger when she and her team had rescued Team 7 from those Oto genin. That wasn't to say that he was mean to her; it just that he didn't seem to recognize her, like the Naruto she'd cuddled as a six-year-old was dead to her.

The second she and Team 9 had arrived at the tower, her sensei had noticed that she seemed down and confused about something, and so he asked her what was up. Upon knowing exactly who she was talking about, Gai-sensei had broken the bad news to her according to what he'd heard. When he was finished, Tenten honestly didn't know which was worse: a Naruto that was angry at her for pretty much abandoning him to the 'mercy' of the Matron, or a Naruto who had completely lost his memory and was pretty much dead to her.

Now however, she had a feeling that with the appearance of these powers he'd been said to have used to defend himself and Neji's cousin (which she'd just started seeing for herself for the first time), Tenten was both happy and scared: happy because now she could potentially have Naruto-kun back in her life; scared for what would happen if they were to properly meet again.

* * *

{Play: "C. Viper Theme" by Hideyuki Fukasawa from "Street Fighter IV"}

[Naruto vs. Kira…]

"I don't care what you remember, I'm still going to fight you with all I have!" declared Kira, cracking her knuckles "The fact that you just remembered you have this power at all just makes it all the more fun! With that on mind, I won't hold back!"

Naruto simply slipped back into a fighting stance; he'd come this far, and he'll be damned if Kira-chan beat him! Kira got back on all fours, and readied herself for a fight! "Jujin Bunshin no Jutsu!" she cried out, while Akamaru landed upon her back, and let out a howl, causing her dog to become an exact copy of his owner. Once they were done setting up for their jutsu, both Kira and her bunshin had split off into two different directions, attempting to flank him. The two of them soon got into position to attack, and with that on mind, both Kira and her bunshin began their attack!

"Gatsuga!"

Seeing that he had nowhere else to go, Naruto simply waited and watched as both Kira and Akamaru spun at high speeds; an obvious attempt to grind him to death with their sharp claws. He needed to time this just right, or else he'd be dead! Just as the tornadoes had gotten close enough, Naruto shot both hands forward, one in the direction of both Kira and Akamaru at the last minute! The clash was such that the two copies wound up hitting the panels of light…however, it was very apparent that this was the wrong move, as the taijutsu maneuver utilized acted like a drill, trying to penetrate the defense that Naruto's panels of light provided.

As time went by, it was very obvious that the defense had its limitations…if the cracks that were starting to criss-cross on the light panels were any indication. Trying something new, Naruto decided to force his chakra forward in the direction of both of his hands: the effect of that decision was that both panels shot back with enough force to knock back both Kira and Akamaru while also interrupting their taijutsu maneuver. However, due to the fact that the panels were cracked, they shattered from the force of the sudden pulse of chakra, sending shards of hardened light flying in both directions, slashing away at most of Kira's clothes, covering Akamaru in scratches, while also dispelling the jutsu as the two of them hit the wall. The second that the two of them fell back down to the floor, the result of the match was obvious:

"T- *cough-cough* The winner of the match is *hack* Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto picked up the body of Akamaru, and walked towards Kira just as the medics had come to put her on a stretcher. "*cough* Damn…that wasn't bad at all," she said, trying her best to recover from seeing double of Naruto putting Akamaru on her chest, "a bit of a dirty trick, but I don't think you had any other way of winning this. Next time we fight, I'm going to dim those lights of yours out, Naruto."

"We'll see about that Kira-chan," he said, "but in the meantime, get stronger…I really want to test the limits of my new power later."

"Looking forward to it!"

As the medics carted Kira off, Naruto went back up the stands to wait for the next set of fights. Whether he was aware that people were staring at him, he didn't show it…but one thing was for certain in everyone's mind: this would be an interesting fight!

* * *

_**A/N: I wonder how many people caught the identity of the person who adopted Tenten in the last chapter? In any case, I apologize for any lack of quality in this chapter…this is my last semester after all in the Art Institute…hopefully I'll get a job as a 3D modeler. Also, as a reminder, Polls for "Naruto: The Dark Knight REMIXED" are closing in one more chapter, because the promised next chapter is coming; slowly but surely. So do make sure to vote, would you kindly? **_


	3. Fate and Discovery

_**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, ladies and gentlemen. I'd hit a bit of a block on the third chapter. Do read and review, would you kindly?**_

* * *

{Play: "Evil" by Toshiro Masuda, from "Naruto"}

[Central Tower of Shi no Mori━Chūnin Exam, Third Stage]

A pair of seafoam green eyes watched as Naruto neared the steps to the balcony. Her eyes spied as the boy was stopped by that white-eyed girl. She proceeded to give him the gift of a small bottle containing some unknown compound. Was it a healing cream, or did the girl intend to poison the fool? Whatever the case was, Gaia found that she was uncomfortable with what she saw.

Her 'mother' had told her to be wary of this boy, and his ability to manipulate light. And yet, for some reason she could not fathom, Gaia found herself intrigued. His power was similar to hers, and yet completely different. Come to think of it, she found that his blood would be more than useful as a sacrifice to Mother. Could she have found her match?

Regardless, she would be the one to kill Uzumaki Naruto, one way or another.

"Yes, mother," she said to herself, with a vicious sneer on her face, "I will give you the blood you desire. Once I've finished with the Uchiha, I shall quench your thirst with Uzumaki blood!"

* * *

{Play: "Awakening (Gui Boratto Remix)" by Gui Boratto, from "Halo 4"}

[Unknown location─moments ago]

From the depths of a cage, one could see masonry that would not be out of place in a sewer, or the basement floor of a power plant. The cage itself was made with wooden bars that were held to a piece of paper with the character "fu" (封) written upon it. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of snoring…as though whoever it in there was fast asleep.

However, that all changed when a pulse rocked the area. A pair of large, red eyes opened wide to see what the commotion was all about. From there, it watched as the entire area began to change. Bricks dissolved, giving way to metal panels inscribed with characters that had not seen use since the creation of kanji and kana inlaid into their surfaces; darkness was being illuminated by glowing tubes that went along the ceiling and under the floor; and the entire architecture of the location began to shift around.

Whatever it was that was happening, it was changing the boy's mindscape. The prisoner had a pretty good idea as to what was happening. They only smiled evilly. **Well now. This'll be interesting.**

* * *

[Chūnin Exams]

Naruto neared the steps to see Hinata waiting for him near the stairwell. He couldn't hear what she was saying to Kira, but she gave her a small bottle before being taken away. She carried herself very confidently, nothing like the first time he'd met her. For as long as he could remember, she'd had a 'take no shit' attitude. It was oddly unsettling, but it seemed to attract him now that he wasn't still trying to get Sakura's attention.

_Come to think of it, why am I so interested in Sakura in the first place?_ he wondered. The girl would much rather pound the living daylights out of him for her failures than humor him for even a moment of her time. True, she'd been getting a little better, as far as his treatment went, but he could still see fangirl behavior in her.

"You did well, Naruto-kun," said Hinata, breaking Naruto out of his thoughts, "I didn't think you'd remember that power you used to save me."

"T-thanks," he stammered, a bit intimidated by the aura that Hinata put out, "But I still have a lot to learn if I'm going to master it."

"Still, it must feel good to have all those memories back."

"I'm still trying to piece a lot of them together; but I think you should know that I now remember you," he acknowledged, rubbing the back of his head, "You were so cute when I met you! And now you're really…er, hot."

Hinata's skin turned red from embarrassment. She coughed into her hand and forced the blush back down. "Oh…w-well, thank you."

"So, what did you and Kira talk about?

"She warned me to be careful around Neji and that red-haired girl from Suna," she explained, "She had a feeling that Neji would do something to hurt me in the match. I told her I could handle him, and that I'd keep my eyes peeled for any foul play. As for the other girl…well, that goes without saying."

"Good," agreed Naruto, "I have a feeling he's up to no good. Watch yourself."

"I will. By the way, Naruto-kun; I have something for you."

From a pocket in her hoodie, Hinata had pulled out a small container with a thick, creamy, lavender substance inside. She handed it to Naruto with a small smile. "This should help you later on. I made it myself."

"What is it?" asked Naruto as he inspected the bottle for himself.

"It's a healing cream that I made," Hinata told him, gently closing his hands over the bottle, "Just rub it on wherever there's an open wound, and it should speed up the healing process. You may not need it now, but it might be helpful in the future."

It wasn't exactly the biggest gift Naruto had gotten in his life, but it had a lot of thought and feeling put into it. His smile widened as he hugged Hinata. "I'll treasure it."

Hinata's flush returned with a vengeance as she melted slightly into Naruto's embrace. She really didn't want it to end; unfortunately, her wish was not granted, as Naruto broke off the hug to regard her with a grateful expression. "G-good luck…" she squeaked, her noble bearing giving way for a second.

Naruto climbed the stairs, with Hinata trailing behind him slowly. He watched on the screen as the board scrolled through the names. There was a silent tension as everybody anticipated that their names would come up. Save for those who had already fought, some people were twitching anxiously; others were simply standing there, sweating bricks as they looked to see who would be next to fight. Eventually, two names came up: Nara Shikamaru and Tsuchi Kin.

He watched as Shikamaru stood face-to-face with his opponent. Naruto had heard footsteps coming up from behind him, and turned to see Kakashi approaching. "How'd you beat Kira?" he asked, "I've never seen anybody do what you just did."

"I've always had this power, I guess," answered Naruto vaguely, looking at his hand, "I don't know how it works; but for some reason, it allows me to use chakra to make solid light."

"That's advanced nature transformation," Kakashi noted, "From what I can tell, you used Raiton at a much higher level than even I can manage."

Naruto looked at Kakashi inquisitively. "Raiton?"

The man nodded. "Pretty much what it sounds like, lightning jutsu. I'm guessing, if you're taught properly, and you master your chakra control, it has the potential to reach the Nidaime Hokage's level in Suiton. The problem is, we don't know much about your ability except that it allows you to solidify and make stuff out of light. If that's the case, it could possibly be a very slow process."

_An ability like the Nidaime?_ thought Naruto in wonder. _Now _that _sounds fun_.

Naruto's thoughts were interrupted when he heard the proctor call out, "The match *cough* goes to Nara Shikamaru."

Everyone else watched as Tsuchi Kin was carted away on a stretcher. Naruto himself was too distracted by his thoughts and Kakashi's question to pay attention. The board ran through names, the LED's flashing through Katakana quickly. Outside the subtle rattling of the board, Naruto could hear low voices chattering.

"Ah, man, I can't take this anymore!"

"Who's the next victim?"

"Don't let it be me, don't let it be me…"

That was all he could hear; everything else was lost either due to being further away, or being spoken in a lower pitch. As the LED's slowed down, it became so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. The results displayed were Hyūga Hinata and Hyūga Neji. That particular matchup had been one of the scenarios that Kira had warned Hinata away from, yet when Naruto turned to look at Hinata, he noted a determined expression on her face. As she made for the stairs, her gait changed from the elegant stride that she'd held before. This time, even when viewed from behind, Naruto was stricken by the forceful aura that suddenly exuded from her. It brought to mind a great beast; proud, strong and unyielding.

Glancing further down the way, he spotted Neji heading down the stairs. _I hate that bastard_, thought Naruto, glaring daggers at the boy. Even though he looked calm and collected, he could see that there was nothing but hatred in Neji. His body may as well be a mural of his absolute loathing and disgust for Hinata: eyes alight with a cold fire that attempted to burn a hole through her head; the slight twitch in his hands as though he held a throat in them, while his fingers tightened his grip. There was also a certain arrogance to his step that challenged any takers. It was as though he were hatred incarnate, which seemed to be the only reason he could potentially be the victor in this match. To Naruto, Neji looked like the statue of some arrogant god; immaculate and effeminate in form, but vicious and monstrous in spirit as he looked coldly down on the people beneath him.

As the two fighters came to a stop in front of Hayate, Naruto could not help but notice the power struggle from his place above the fight. On the one side, he could sense Hinata's aura inspiring him to keep on fighting and drawing him closer to her side with its warmth. Neji's coldness reflected the amount of hate he felt towards her, to the point that Naruto would not be surprised if ice crystals began to grow in his wake.

Seeing as Hinata and Neji stood before him, staring each other down, Hayate was about to begin the match when he saw Neji lift his hand. "Proctor, I'd like a few moments to speak with my cousin."

The request seemed innocent enough that the proctor didn't see anything wrong with it. But Naruto had a bad feeling about what hateful babble would be leaving Neji's mouth. He turned to regard Hinata with his cold expression. "Hinata-sama," he began. The tone would have been civil, were it not for the undertone of disrespect. "Please withdraw from this match. Fate has decreed that if you fight, you will die. You will never be able to defeat the hand of fate, neither will you be able to realize that goal you set your sights on. You will always be weak, much like that commoner you chase after."

For a solid minute, Hinata gave no indication that she'd heard him. Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke. "If you knew me even a quarter as well as you think you did, Neji-nii-san, then you would not bother with such nonsense. Your notions of fate hold no bearing on me."

Neji scoffed in response. "Arrogance. I know exactly what your fate is; I am the instrument of it."

"Who's the arrogant one, here? You are the prodigy of our clan, Nii-san, I acknowledge that willingly. However…do not think for a moment that your eyes see anything more than any other Byakugan."

There was nothing he could say to that, and so Neji slipped into the low, half-bow Jūken stance. Hinata however, took a totally different stance: she balanced on the balls of her right foot, and raised her left foot. Her hands were spread out at her sides, adding more stability to her form.

"What kind of stance is that? You are unfit to be heiress if you aren't even using the standard Jūken stance."

"Say what you will, the Hyūga clan is too set in its ways," Hinata returned adroitly, "You'll see that soon enough."

It was clear this fight was on, so he raised his hand. Hayate looked at both Hinata and Neji with a cautious glance. Then he brought it back down with a loud "Hajime!" before Shunshining out of the arena.

{Play: "Public Enemy" from "Devil May Cry"}

Neji rushed in, attempting a palm strike on his opponent, only for Hinata to bat away the arm with a kick to his forearm. She performed a back kick to try and nail Neji in the chest with her heel. Neji successfully hopped back from the kick. Smoothly transitioning into a crouch, Hinata then leaped up to perform an aerial reverse roundhouse, which Neji found himself barely able to back-flip away from as the heel passed him over. As he landed, Neji looked down at his chest and saw a long cut across his shirt. "Blasphemy! You used chakra in your feet to cut me. How far have you fallen to use this?"

"Fallen? Blasphemy?" queried Hinata, landing back in her one-legged stance, "My, but those are some archaic words you're using. I've just been inventive. I've been working on finding ways to make us more flexible as fighters; to improve upon Jūken. In the time I was away from the family, I developed my own variant of the Jūken, using my feet more heavily in the style. What you see now, is my own branch of Jūkenpō."

Neji scoffed. "Your own branch? What nonsense is this? The Jūken is perfect; it needs no additions-"

"The fact that you believe that makes me wonder how you even became a _Genin_, let alone a Chūnin candidate," she sighed, shaking her head in befuddlement, "But in any event, you are completely wrong, no two ways about it. There is no such thing as a perfect fighting style. Rather, all styles inherently and fundamentally bear flaws. I merely decided to build on those flaws. Eyes, chakra, hands and feet. So long as it fits me, I will fight in whatever manner I like." She paused for a moment, smiling gently with her eyes closed. "So long as you see that as a weakness, Neji…you will not beat me."

Neji seethed, activated his Byakugan, and rushed Hinata to close the distance quickly. As she made a low sweep, he saw a wave of chakra surging at him from her heel and front-flipped over it. Landing, he moved in quickly and lashed out with a Jūken palm strike, only for Hinata to deflect it easily with the back of her hand. The movement was not wasted, as Hinata used the momentum of her rise to drive her own Jūken strike into Neji's jaw. Neji reeled from the hit, but managed to recover fast enough to dodge around the followup kick, then counter with another palm strike.

For the first time since the start of the fight, both sides had taken a solid hit. For a moment, both stared at each other, Neji outright glaring. Then they charged. What followed was a high-speed flurry of palm strikes blurring between them, Neji striking faster and harder with his attacks. Hinata was more focused on defense, only doing damage when an opportunity presented itself for a counterattack. As the two of them were deadlocked, the Jūken duel would reveal a weakness of Hinata's new Jūkenjutsu: the user needed space and timing for the chakra blades to be effective. With Neji up close and constantly on the attack, Hinata was not able to utilize her kicks, which had a more circular motion than Neji's straight jabs.

Neji finally landed a hit that pushed them both away. Both were panting from exhaustion, and were covered in chakra burns all over their torsos from successful hits. However, there was a clear difference between them: while Hinata was hit more times than Neji due to the high speed and frequency of his attacks; Neji suffered fewer, but larger hits that were tightly grouped around his vital tenketsu points. "It's over, Hinata-sama," he rasped out, "You've lost."

"It would seem so," agreed Hinata, briefly looking down at herself. There was reluctance in her tone over the fact that she admitted it, which brought a victorious smirk to Neji's face. "If this match were based on the last man standing, you would indeed be the winner. But if I'm going to be defeated, then your victory will…_cost_ you."

Hinata activated her Byakugan, and rushed Neji to open the fight with a chakra-laced jump-kick to the face. Neji bent backwards from the wave of chakra, just as Hinata landed in front of him. She nailed him in the stomach with a chakra-less palm strike as he rebounded, causing him to double over in pain before hitting him in both shoulders with a double-handed Jūken strike and pushing him to the ground. Once she was done with her assault, Hinata coughed out blood. "Don't get up, Neji-nii," she weakly coughed out, but loud enough for Neji to hear, "I've hit your subclavian arteries. Right now, they are probably so weak that if you try to get up yourself, they will burst, and you will die almost instantly from internal bleeding. I've also damaged your lumbar, which means you won't be walking anytime soon, unless Tsunade-sama herself heals you."

Neji coughed up blood. "You...you should just kill me."

As she coughed up another gout of blood, Hinata fell to her knees. "If I wanted to kill you, you would be _dead,_ not crippled. And there is no _should_ about it. The one who loses has no right to dictate the terms of the aftermath to the winner. You could almost say they're…fated to be at their mercy."

"Spare me your drivel," snarled her cousin.

Hinata gave a sweet smile that contained pure insolence. "If we get down to the truth of it, Neji, that's your own drivel. Don't like it? Then you shouldn't have been spouting it to begin with." She breathed out, her knees finally giving away as she crumpled to the ground.

"The *hack* the match is a draw!" called out Hayate, as Hinata passed out on the floor, "Call in the medics and *cough-cough* tell them to be extremely careful with their patients!"

As the medics carted off Hinata, Hayate looked down upon Neji. The boy still had that stubborn look of hatred on his face. "Our fates and our identities are determined by our choices," he finally croaked out, "Whatever that fate turns out to be, it is _our_ fate. The girl might've been roundabout in saying it *cough*, but she was right; not even the Byakugan can see a person's future."

The arrogant mask cracked for just a second. Neji's mouth barely moved, but Hayate was just barely able to make out "What do you know…?" before his eyes drifted closed. The medics came in and lifted the boy onto the stretcher. "Better that he blacked out now," he said to himself, as the two medics left the area, "As he is, I don't think I can handle another word out of him without stabbing him."

* * *

[Up in the Stands]

Anko howled with laughter. "Well, I guess that's karma for you!" she cackled, "I sure hope Hinata recovers quickly though. She earned my respect when she stuck it to that asshole."

Meanwhile, across the way from Anko, Naruto watched as Hinata and Neji were carted away from the arena. From his experience, while there were a few doctors in Konoha General Hospital that would rather follow the "Hypocritical Oath" on him, there were a lot of highly-skilled and competent doctors that actually followed the "Hippocratic Oath." _I should follow Hinata-chan_, he thought to himself, _make sure she gets a good doctor._

"I wouldn't worry," said Kakashi idly, grabbing Naruto by the shoulder, "Dr. Faust is in town, and he's volunteered to treat survivors from the Chūnin Exams. He and Dr. Hazama are really good at their trade, so she'll be in very good hands."

Naruto had heard of both doctors, and knew that Kakashi was right. Dr. Hazama was a 40-year-old doctor that looked like a ragdoll due to the many stitches criss-crossed his body. His scars were the result of an explosives tag that went off when he was a kid. His mother didn't make it, but Hazama would go on to be one of the finest doctors in Konoha, seconded only by Tsunade.

Faust on the other hand was a mystery. The man was a traveling doctor of comparable skill, standing at least nine feet tall and extremely lanky. He was known for wearing a white lab coat and green pants, with his face hidden under a paper bag with an eye-hole. He behaved a lot like a clown, which would've been fine were it not for the oversized scalpel he carried around. In addition, a lot of his 'toys' were deadly weapons. Add in the fact that he had the tendency to appear out of nowhere, and you had one frightening man. _If he's really a doctor, then why do I have a feeling he's the kind that would take the Hypocritical Oath?_

"Next match is Tenten and Temari," called out Hayate, snapping Naruto out of his thoughts. The boy watched as both Tenten and the Suna Kunoichi walked down the steps to the arena.

* * *

[Tenten vs. Temari]

Tenten would've been lying if she'd said she wasn't nervous. It was just that she'd been taught to take that nervousness and channel the resultant adrenaline rush into making herself fight harder. Although she still found Gai-sensei's antics a bit much (not the least of which being that horrifying genjutsu he and Lee had accidentally invented), she was still thankful for what he taught her; mainly to analyze an opponent quickly with her eyes: the fact that she was carrying a large weapon told Tenten that Temari was rather strong; her gait and her posture were a bit loose without being too tight, so as to save her energy for the fight ahead; the look in her eyes made it very obvious that she'd seen action, and thus she had something to back up her confident smirk.

"Fighters, ready?" croaked Hayate, lifting his hand.

Hopefully, this match would go well, and she would be able to find Naruto later to confront him. Tenten had a few tactics on mind; most important of which being that she had to stay out of reach of that big black block that Temari was carrying. Luckily, in addition to Gai-sensei teaching her how to use a variety of weapons, she'd been taught how to throw them. She held two scrolls in her hand, gripping them tightly as she waited for the proctor's word.

"Hajime!"

{Play: "Lock and Load" from "Devil May Cry"}

Hayate Shunshin'd out of the arena, leaving Tenten to backflip away from Temari. Once she was a good distance away from her opponent, she quickly unfurled a scroll on the floor and summoned three spears, throwing each at Temari in quick succession. The first spear was knocked away by her opponent spinning her folded fan over her shoulder and deflecting it. She then placed both hands on the sides of the fan, pulled it open and swung, blowing away the remaining two spears with a powerful blast of air.

Tenten kept summoning weapons, aiming for vital organs with her throws. Unfortunately, Temari kept on blowing down every one of them; even a few large throwing axes were deflected with a swing. Tenten took the opportunity in her throwing to rethink her strategy. "Versatile, aren't you?"

"You don't know the half of it."

Pulling the second scroll from its holster, Tenten unfurled the other scroll. "You may have been able to block my weapons, but let's see how fast you are now!"

Tossing both scrolls in the air, Tenten sprang into the space between them, summoning all her weapons. "_**Sōshōryu!**_" As she was in midair, Tenten began throwing a multitude of weapons at her target at high speeds, the rate of fire having been doubled due to both scrolls having been used. A storm of swords, kunai, axes, spears and even a few hammers diving in Temari's direction. "Let's see you get out of this now!"

If she were at all disturbed by the number of weapons flying in her direction, Temari did not show it. On the contrary, her confident smirk widened into a toothy grin. "Gladly!" She opened her fan, and gave it a mighty swing, stopping all the weapons in midair and sending them back to Tenten. She then recovered to perform a stronger backward swing to knock Tenten out of her scrolls with a blast of air. The final, and heaviest swing of her fan was used to create a miniature tornado that tossed Tenten around in the air, sucking the oxygen from her lungs long enough to make her pass out.

Seeing her opponent's unconscious body free-falling to the ground, Temari closed her fan and twirled it around, propping it up on the ground. She expected that Tenten would land with her back on her fan. What she didn't expect was a spark flaring up, tracing a shape in mid-air around Tenten, orbiting her at blinding speed. It happened in an instant, but everyone saw that Tenten was surrounded by a sphere of orange light that was now falling onto Temari's fan. As soon as it landed, the bottom of the sphere deformed, cracks spider-webbing over its surface and denting deeply. As Tenten landed with her back on the dent, the rest of her body curved along the walls of the sphere.

_What the hell?_ Temari hazarded a glance up at the stands to see Uzumaki Naruto with one hand outstretched. The shock on his face told her that the effect generated was both his doing and unintentional. This was a first-time thing for him. It was also unknown as to whether or not he noticed that everyone was staring at him, jaws hitting the ground with at least as much shock as his.

"The winner of this match is Temari." called out Hayate, snapping everyone out of their trances, "Everyone clear the arena."

The medics came with stretchers to pick Tenten's unconscious body up, but everyone's thoughts were on her rescue; or at least how she was rescued. At the same time, Temari ascended the stairs to the stands, thinking it over. It was clear that the boy had not intended to do what he did, but that just made it all the more interesting. She wanted to see the limits of this new ability he'd discovered, and to crush him before he became a real threat. Even besides that, Temari was eager to fight him, come the semi-finals; if not, then she supposed he would be a good matchup for Gaia.

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_**A/N: **_

_**Kurogane7: Hello, ladies and gentlemen, how are you this fine night? As usual, I'd like to give a round of applause to my fellow writers NorthSouthGorem and UnitedOsprey1991. It's thanks to them that this story has been thawed…if only for now. But I promise you, there will be more action in future chapters.**_

_**NorthSouthGorem: Wish I could say I contributed all that much, but this isn't my normal beta-ing jam.**_

_**Unitedosprey1991: Uh...Oh yeah hope you liked it sorry for the lack of contribution this time.**_

_**Kurogane7: Hey, you both contributed plenty. Anyway, please read and review, would you kindly?**_

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_**Vocabulary:**_

_**Jūkenjutsu─written as "**__**柔剣術"**__**, which means "Gentle Sword Technique".**_

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_**Cameos/References**_

_**NSG: Hinata's Juuken rant is based heavily on Ryougi Shiki's Badass Speech about the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception in Kara no Kyoukai 3.**_

_**UO: NSG set up a line for CSI Miami.  
NSG: YMMV on that one, honestly…**_

_**Dr. Faust─Guilty Gear**_


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